Economics & Development

The World Development Report 2025 highlights standards as quiet but powerful catalysts of development, functioning as invisible infrastructure that underpins consistency, compatibility, and quality across modern economies. Once peripheral technical tools, standards have become central to prosperity, export growth, technology diffusion, and effective public service delivery, especially for low‑ and middle‑income countries navigating globalization and rapid technological change. The report explains the expanding universe of standards, most of which are voluntary but increasingly embedded in regulations and global trade through nontariff measures. It emphasizes the importance of quality infrastructure—metrology, conformity assessment, accreditation, and standardization—to ensure credible implementation and compliance. A core contribution is the adapt–align–author framework, which guides countries in sequencing reforms: adapting international standards to local capacity, progressively aligning with global norms, and ultimately shaping standards internationally. The report advocates using standards as flexible policy tools, combining voluntary and mandatory approaches to protect public interests while fostering innovation. Overall, it argues that well‑designed and inclusive standards can accelerate development, whereas poorly sequenced or overly rigid standards risk becoming barriers rather than enablers.

يسلط تقرير التنمية العالمية 2025 الضوء على المعايير بوصفها محفزات هادئة لكنها قوية للتنمية، إذ تعمل كبنية تحتية غير مرئية تدعم الاتساق والتوافق والجودة في الاقتصادات الحديثة. وبعد أن كانت تُعد أدوات تقنية هامشية، أصبحت المعايير اليوم محورًا أساسيًا لتحقيق الازدهار، ونمو الصادرات، وانتشار التكنولوجيا، وتقديم خدمات عامة فعالة، ولا سيما في البلدان منخفضة ومتوسطة الدخل التي تتعامل مع العولمة والتغير التكنولوجي السريع. ويشرح التقرير اتساع عالم المعايير، التي يكون معظمها طوعيًا، لكنها أصبحت متداخلة بشكل متزايد في الأطر التنظيمية والتجارة العالمية من خلال التدابير غير التعريفية. كما يؤكد أهمية بنية الجودة، بما في ذلك علم القياس، وتقييم المطابقة، والاعتماد، والتوحيد القياسي، لضمان تنفيذ موثوق والالتزام بالمعايير. وتتمثل إحدى إسهاماته الأساسية في إطار التكيّف والمواءمة وصياغة المعايير، الذي يوجّه البلدان في ترتيب وتسلسل الإصلاحات عبر تكييف المعايير الدولية مع القدرات المحلية، والمواءمة التدريجية مع المعايير العالمية، وفي نهاية المطاف المساهمة في تشكيل المعايير على المستوى الدولي. ويدعو التقرير إلى استخدام المعايير كأدوات مرنة للسياسات العامة، تجمع بين النهجين الطوعي والإلزامي لحماية المصلحة العامة وتعزيز الابتكار في الوقت نفسه. وبوجه عام، يؤكد أن المعايير المصممة تصميمًا جيدًا والشاملة يمكن أن تسرّع التنمية، في حين أن المعايير التي تُطبّق دون تسلسل مناسب أو تكون مفرطة الصرامة قد تتحول إلى عوائق بدلًا من أن تكون أدوات تمكين.

O Relatório de Desenvolvimento Mundial 2025 destaca as normas como catalisadores discretos, porém poderosos, do desenvolvimento, funcionando como uma infraestrutura invisível que sustenta a consistência, a compatibilidade e a qualidade nas economias modernas. Antes vistas como instrumentos técnicos periféricos, as normas tornaram‑se centrais para a prosperidade, o crescimento das exportações, a difusão tecnológica e a prestação eficaz de serviços públicos, especialmente nos países de baixa e média renda que enfrentam a globalização e rápidas transformações tecnológicas. O relatório descreve o universo em expansão das normas, em sua maioria voluntárias, mas cada vez mais incorporadas às regulamentações e ao comércio global por meio de medidas não tarifárias. Ressalta também a importância da infraestrutura da qualidade — metrologia, avaliação da conformidade, acreditação e normalização — para assegurar uma implementação e um cumprimento confiáveis. Uma contribuição central é o marco adaptar–alinhar–elaborar, que orienta os países na sequência de reformas: adaptar normas internacionais às capacidades locais, alinhar‑se progressivamente às normas globais e, por fim, contribuir para a formulação de normas em âmbito internacional. O relatório defende o uso das normas como instrumentos flexíveis de política pública, combinando abordagens voluntárias e obrigatórias para proteger o interesse público e, ao mesmo tempo, estimular a inovação. De modo geral, argumenta que normas bem concebidas e inclusivas podem acelerar o desenvolvimento, enquanto normas mal sequenciadas ou excessivamente rígidas correm o risco de se tornar barreiras, e não facilitadoras.

This statement, delivered by Muhammad Al Jasser, Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, to the 113th Meeting of the Development Committee on April 16, 2026, emphasizes the growing complexity and interconnection of global development challenges amid heightened economic uncertainty, persistent debt vulnerabilities, climate risks, demographic pressures, and rapid technological change. It underscores that recent geopolitical tensions, particularly in the Middle East, have amplified shocks to energy markets, trade corridors, and financial conditions, further constraining fiscal space for many developing economies. Against this backdrop, the statement affirms that strengthening the enabling environment for jobs and productivity growth is the most reliable pathway to sustained poverty reduction and shared prosperity. It outlines the IsDB Group’s emerging Ten‑Year Strategy Framework, anchored in inclusive productivity growth through investments in human capital, quality infrastructure, private‑sector dynamism, and innovation, with particular emphasis on small and medium‑sized enterprises as the backbone of employment. The statement highlights the critical role of multilateral development banks in mobilizing private capital through blended finance, guarantees, risk‑sharing instruments, and local‑currency financing, while supporting structural transformation, regional integration, and climate resilience. It stresses that access to affordable and predictable climate finance is essential for adaptation and a just energy transition in vulnerable countries. Concluding, the statement reaffirms the IsDB Group’s commitment to close collaboration with member countries and international partners, noting that only through coordinated action, shared resources, and strengthened partnerships can sustainable job creation, resilience, and inclusive development be achieved across the Global South.